US Pre-Clearance Is Now Open at Billy Bishop Airport — Here's What It Means for Travellers

Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (YTZ) has officially opened its US pre-clearance facility as of March 10, 2026, making it the last major Canadian airport with direct US flights to get one.

This has been over a decade in the making, and it meaningfully changes what YTZ can offer travellers heading south of the border.

What Pre-Clearance Actually Changes

If you've flown to the US from Pearson (YYZ) or any other pre-clearance-equipped Canadian airport, you already know the drill: you clear US Customs and Border Protection before you board, and when you land in the States, you're treated as a domestic arrival.

That means no immigration lines on the other end, direct access to baggage claim, and the ability to connect to domestic flights without clearing customs again.

Until now, Billy Bishop couldn't offer that. US-bound passengers had to clear customs upon arrival, which limited the routes airlines were willing to operate and made connections at the other end much less practical.

That bottleneck is now gone.

New Routes from Porter and Air Canada

This is where things get interesting.

Porter Airlines, which essentially calls YTZ home, currently operates 16 daily transborder flights to five US destinations: Boston (BOS), Chicago (ORD), Newark (EWR), Washington, D.C. (IAD), and Nashville (BNA), with Nashville launching May 11, 2026.

Air Canada is also jumping in with US service from Billy Bishop for the first time, with new routes to Boston (BOS), Chicago O'Hare (ORD), New York LaGuardia (LGA), and Washington Dulles (IAD) launching in spring 2026.

For anyone based in downtown Toronto, or anyone who has sat in the back of a cab crawling up the 427 toward Pearson, having a viable US gateway right on the waterfront is a big deal.

Porter Keeps Evolving

It's worth stepping back and appreciating how much Porter has grown as an airline over the past couple of years.

Between the launch of the co-branded BMO VIPorter World Elite®* Mastercard®* cards, the new airline partnerships with Air Transat and Alaska Airlines, and now a wave of US route expansions made possible by pre-clearance, Porter is quietly building something compelling.

Business travellers and downtown Toronto residents are the obvious winners here. But for the broader Canadian points-and-miles community, having another serious player in the market — one that's actively investing in its loyalty ecosystem — is a good thing.

The Lounge Situation Is Worth Knowing About

I'll be honest: one of my favourite things about flying from Billy Bishop is the Aspire Air Canada Café. It's a small lounge, but it punches above its weight, and the views of the Toronto skyline from the terminal make the whole experience feel like a bit of a hidden gem.

In fact, it's probably one of my favourite lounges in Canada, right after the WestJet Elevation Lounge in Calgary (YYC) — assuming you can even get into that one.

Here's the catch with pre-clearance, though. Once you clear US customs, you're funnelled into a segregated departure area with no lounge access. The Aspire lounge sits in the main terminal, so if you're flying transborder, you won't be able to use it.

That's a real downside for frequent flyers, especially premium cardholders who've come to expect lounge access as part of the travel experience.

And here's my honest take on what's coming: even on the domestic side, I wouldn't be surprised if the Aspire lounge starts to get overwhelmed as YTZ grows. More routes, more passengers, and more credit cards offering lounge access is a recipe for either tighter entry requirements or lineups long enough that you just give up.

Whether a post-clearance lounge eventually materializes remains to be seen, but for now, plan accordingly.

NEXUS Holders Have an Edge

If you hold a NEXUS card, you'll get expedited screening at the new pre-clearance facility. Given that YTZ is a smaller airport where the overall flow is already faster than Pearson, having NEXUS here could make the US departure process genuinely painless.

For anyone who doesn't have NEXUS yet, the application fee is $120 USD for a five-year membership — and it remains one of the best investments in Canadian travel. Even better, a number of Canadian credit cards offer a full or partial rebate on the fee, including the CIBC Aventura® Visa Infinite Privilege* Card, the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite Privilege* Card, the Amex Platinum Card, and several others.

The Bigger Picture

The Government of Canada invested $30 million in this facility, and officials are projecting that YTZ's annual economic contribution could rise from $2.1 billion to as much as $5.3 billion.

Those are optimistic numbers, but the direction is clear: Billy Bishop is no longer just a convenient domestic airport. It's positioning itself as a real alternative for US travel from downtown Toronto.

The timing is also interesting, given the current trade tensions between Canada and the United States. US Ambassador Pete Hoekstra had previously suggested that Washington might reconsider pre-clearance support due to declining Canadian travel volumes. The fact that this facility opened anyway is a positive signal.

Conclusion

Pre-clearance at Billy Bishop is one of those infrastructure upgrades that sounds dry on paper but actually changes the math for a lot of travellers.

If you're a frequent Porter or Air Canada flyer based in Toronto, the appeal of skipping Pearson entirely for US trips just got a lot stronger. The new Air Canada routes add even more flexibility, and the convenience of clearing customs downtown before you board is hard to overstate.

The main thing to watch is the lounge situation — both the lack of access on the US side and the growing pressure on the Aspire lounge as the airport gets busier. For now, it's a trade-off: you gain a faster, more convenient airport experience, but lose lounge access on transborder departures.

For short US hops — Boston (BOS), Chicago (ORD), D.C. (IAD) — the convenience of Billy Bishop will outweigh the lounge issue for most people. And if Porter and Air Canada continue expanding their US networks from YTZ, this could quietly become one of the best ways to fly south from Toronto.